George W. Norris

George William Norris (11 July 1861-2 September 1944) was a member of the US House of Representatives (R-NE 5) from 4 March 1903 to 4 March 1913 (succeeding Ashton C. Shallenberger and preceding Silas Reynolds Barton) and a US Senator from 4 March 1913 to 3 January 1943 (succeeding Norris Brown and preceding Kenneth S. Wherry).

Biography
George William Norris was born in York Township, Ohio in 1861, and he moved to Beaver City, Nebraska to practice law. He served in the US House of Representatives from 1903 to 1913 and in the US Senate from 1913 to 1943, and he was a progressive. Norris supported the direct election of Senators, the conversion of all state legislatures to the unicameral system, isolationism (being one of only six Senators to vote against America's entry into World War I), the rights of labor, the switching of the presidential inauguration day to 20 January, and the abolition of the Electoral College. He supported Al Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt's Democratic presidential campaigns, and he was frequently at odds with his own party. He was also a staunch supported of Roosevelt's New Deal policies during the 1930s. In 1942, however, he failed to secure Democratic support for his candidacy in his state, and he was defeated by Republican Kenneth S. Wherry. He died in 1944.